Canadian GP Live: Formula 1 Live: The 2023 Canadian GP is up and running with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen leading at the front so far. Lewis Hamilton closely follows him in the second place with Alonso completing the podium steps. As of lap 17 of 70, the fierce fight for the second spot is still on. However, it wasn’t clean racing through and through as the two legends had a fiery pit lane incident where Alonso almost ran into the back of Hamilton’s Silver Arrows on Lap 13. Moreover, it was all triggered after an unfortunate incident involving George Russell.
As has been the story of this season so far, the Dutchman fled into the lead from the pole after having an absolutely stellar start. Meanwhile, Hamilton was quick to get past Alonso who started alongside Max in the first row. On lap 11, Williams of Logan Seargent came to a halt owing to engine issues triggering a virtual safety car. However, it didn’t create a ruckus after the marshals had a clinical sweep within minutes. However, the race didn’t remain the one without controversies for long.
After a few close calls initially in the midfield, W-14 of George Russell found barriers and smashed his rear-right corner and front wing into the wall after running wide into the exit. The significant damage to Russell’s car triggered a safety car with inadvertently caused an array of cheap pit stops. The three race leaders pitted to get Medium compound rubbers. Max Verstappen had a clinically supreme pit stop of a mere 2.3 seconds allowing him to keep the lead.
However, Hamilton and Alonso had a close call in the pit lane during the entire exchange.
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Stewards give clean chit to Lewis Hamilton for unsafe release incident with Alonso
During the 13th lap of the race when the two drivers pitted, Hamilton was leading Alonso. However, Aston Martin managed an exceptional pit stop, nine-tenths of a second faster than that of Hamilton. As Alonso started his descent toward the track, he unexpectedly encountered Hamilton’s W-14 right ahead coming out of his pit stop, almost causing a collision between the two.
This wasn’t an isolated incident though. More or less an exact replica of the same was followed soon after with Norris and Albon as well, with the latter being on the receiving end. Alonso seemed visibly disappointed on the radio about the incident. The stewards immediately started the investigation into the incident. Later, however, Hamilton and Mercedes were given the clean chit into the incident.
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